Volunteering at Animal Shelters in Korea: Where to Go

Many privately-run and municipal shelters as well as rescue groups exist throughout Korea. All of them need help with cleaning, grooming, exercising, and socializing animals and many need help with basic maintenance of their facilities as well.

ARK members make regular visits to shelters in Asan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Boeun, and less regular visits to other places. Trips are listed in the Events Calendar. You can also post in the Volunteering Forum to arrange and plan a meet-up elsewhere, or to see if anyone knows of a shelter closer to you.

Here is a short list of Korean shelters and rescue groups which welcome volunteers:

Seoul area

• Nabiya, a private cats-only shelter in Seobinggo Yongsan, Seoul.
• Dr. Pet Animal Hospital, a vet clinic in Gangnam Gu which boards rescued dogs, cats, and the occasional rabbit or hedgehog, too. Read the rules for volunteering.
• KARAMA (Korea Animal Rescue and Management Association), a kill shelter in Yangju, north of Seoul, needs adopters especially. Threads about this shelter (also called KARMA) are collected under the tag "karama".

Daejeon area

• Daejeon City Shelter has 200+ cats and dogs of all ages and is trying hard to be no-kill. More info in these threads.
• Daejeon Paws houses around 30 small dogs and has only one caretaker (Mrs. Jung).
• Boeun Animal Sanctuary, run by KAPS, houses indoor cats and both large breed and small breed dogs (about 1 hour outside of Daejeon)

Miscellaneous other cities

• Andong area: Wharyong Shelter, a municipal shelter, has around 80 dogs.
• Asan: Jane's Grandpa's private shelter (the "Asan shelter") has regular Saturday volunteer trips to care for the large and small breed dogs, as well as cats.
• Busan: BAPS: Busan Abandoned Pet Sanctuary; volunteering and adoptions are organized through the BAPS Facebook page.
• Daegu: KAPS (Korean Animal Protection Society) operates a cat shelter and a separate dog shelter.
• Jeju Island: Two shelters on Jeju accept volunteers: Jeju Ugidongmul Shelter is a privately-run facility housing cats and dogs. Check out the album in the gallery. As well, the Jeju municipal shelter has many gorgeous pups. More info here, more photos in the gallery.

  NOTE: Jeju muncipal shelter is not accepting volunteers during the summer.

More Korean Animal Groups and Shelters

Please check out the Korean animal groups and shelters listed in the links directory. Contact a shelter near you to find out if they accept volunteers to help clean dog kennels or cat trees, and to exercise, groom, and play with the animals. You may need a Korean-speaking friend to help you make contact.

More ideas:

• Submit a link. Know of a shelter or rescue not listed here? Please add it to our list. Thank you!
• List an event. Planning a trip and want to invite others? Add it to the Events Calendar. Thanks again!
• Other Ways to Help Animals in Korea. Check out this list of ideas for when you can't make it to a shelter.

Last updated July 4, 2010.